GPRC salutes its best

The spotlight shone on Grande Prairie Regional College athletes Thursday night, at the institution's annual Festival of Gold awards banquet.

It shone the brightest on John Scheideman and Andria Carlyon.

Scheideman, the captain of the men's volleyball team, and Carlyon, the leading scorer and rebounder on the women's basketball team, were named the Male Athlete Of The Year and Female Athlete Of The Year, respectively.

Andria Carlyon has set the bar pretty high for herself for her sophomore year.

Carlyon won the Wolves Female Athlete of the Year Award as a rookie, beating such athletes as ACAC All-Conference soccer player and Wolves captain Amanda Walmsley, as well as volleyball Wolves star Kate Porta.

While all three athletes were worthy of the nominations, Carlyon's production on the hardcourt could not be ignored.

She was named the ACAC North All-Conference team (first team) and was a CCAA All-Canadian nominee.

Carlyon led the ACAC in rebounding (9.5 per game), was fourth in scoring (352 points) and fifth in scoring average (13.54 points per game).

She led the conference in double/doubles, with 11, was fourth in blocks and had eight Player of the Game awards during the season.

Despite all that, the nomination caught Carlyon off guard.

"I'm kind of surprised – I was surprised even to be nominated," said the soft-spoken basketball star from Westlock. "I first found out about it (nomination) a couple of days ago. My coach told me when we had our (season-ending) meeting. It was amazing. I didn't expect it at all. There are so many good players on our team."

Carlyon plans on returning to GPRC in the fall and feels there is the foundation for a strong team next season. The club fought through its share of adversity, including a mid-season coaching change, but still reached its pre-season goal of getting to the provincial playoffs.

"I think we will be more of a team right from the start next year," she said. "We will be stronger for what we went through this season – a lot less drama, so we'll have a lot more fun."